Australia should be heavily criticised for its lack of environmental improvement

[REDHERO]

So why does Australia get away with being so bad.
Ranked worst of 57 countries. A rich country that could afford to do mire.
Come on Australia do your bit.
Aibu

@Ozgirl75

Thing is, I do understand where the Nationals are coming from - their support base is miners and farmers and the people they employ, they can’t just throw them under the bus with no other jobs to do, what are they gonna do out in the literal frickin middle of nowhere, pivot to working in what other job? But what the govt should have done is significantly invest in other industries to replace the jobs in these regions. But mining is SERIOUSLY, insanely huge money (and therefore ginormous tax receipts) so I guess they thought “what for?”, especially with the political pressure that these companies presumably exert.

I understand this

Do you think it could change?

@whereislittleroo

As an Aussie I agree. We are shamefully behind when it comes to climate action. I think as others have said, it comes down to our large mining industries and the fact that the government are essentially in bed with them. We are also geographically large and spread out and rely heavily on trucks and planes to transport goods.

At an individual level I think most people I know care. As mentioned above, it is very automatic for us to conserve water. Those who don't have rain tanks tend to reuse water from the shower or laundry on gardens. We keep our showers short and use eco cycles on dishwashers etc. Our recycling bins are twice the size of our general waste bins and many local councils now have green waste bins as well. Very few people I know even own a clothes dryer. There's been some government rebates offered to switch to solar power, improve insulation and change lightbulbs etc.

I just don't think the actions of individuals do much to compensate for the problematic industries.

Totally agree with this.

@Ozgirl75

Thing is, I do understand where the Nationals are coming from - their support base is miners and farmers and the people they employ, they can’t just throw them under the bus with no other jobs to do, what are they gonna do out in the literal frickin middle of nowhere, pivot to working in what other job? But what the govt should have done is significantly invest in other industries to replace the jobs in these regions. But mining is SERIOUSLY, insanely huge money (and therefore ginormous tax receipts) so I guess they thought “what for?”, especially with the political pressure that these companies presumably exert.

Most farmers want net zero. And coal doesn’t make us money overall. It’s massively subsidised. Farmers will make a lot more money if the place isn’t on fire. And miners don’t live in the middle of nowhere. They live in cities and fly in and out on planes polluting further. They won’t just sit in the outback doing nothing they will be in a city or a town with a different job

@Ozgirl75

Thing is, I do understand where the Nationals are coming from - their support base is miners and farmers and the people they employ, they can’t just throw them under the bus with no other jobs to do, what are they gonna do out in the literal frickin middle of nowhere, pivot to working in what other job? But what the govt should have done is significantly invest in other industries to replace the jobs in these regions. But mining is SERIOUSLY, insanely huge money (and therefore ginormous tax receipts) so I guess they thought “what for?”, especially with the political pressure that these companies presumably exert.

This is true - and it isn't just miners, it's all the other jobs that support the mining industry as well. This is a multi-billion dollar industry we are talking about here - it isn't replaced quickly or easily, or without heartache.

@MarshaBradyo I honestly have no idea. How do you get a government to walk away from that kind of easy money, when there is significant political pressure not to walk away?
I think there needs to be significant pressure to develop and create new technology as, in general, as a nation we are keen to embrace this and certainly people like to do the right thing environmentally, even if the government likes to take its lovely coal and iron money.

PM Scott Morrison has been too focussed on fucking up peoples lives by allowing mandated Covid vaccinations. I wonder if people actually know what’s going on here.
If you want to know I’ll tell you.
He has conveniently popped over to Glasgow to bullshit other politicians about how wonderful he his. Half of Australia is owned by China now anyway so nothing will change because he just bends over to anyone that will benefit him.
He is an utter disgrace and the worst PM in Australian history.
He has destroyed our beautiful country.

I'm Australian. Our Prime Minister is a piece of shit in thrall to big mining and propped up by Murdoch. I hope he is shamed and humiliated at COP and voted out next year.
40,000 University jobs have been lost in the pandemic, with no support. Yet the miners are a protected species.

The election can’t come fast enough.

But really our whole “political donation” system needs an major overall and we Desperate need a federal integrity and corruption commission.

@Sarahschild

PM Scott Morrison has been too focussed on fucking up peoples lives by allowing mandated Covid vaccinations. I wonder if people actually know what’s going on here. If you want to know I’ll tell you. He has conveniently popped over to Glasgow to bullshit other politicians about how wonderful he his. Half of Australia is owned by China now anyway so nothing will change because he just bends over to anyone that will benefit him. He is an utter disgrace and the worst PM in Australian history. He has destroyed our beautiful country.

I was hoping his god would do us a favour a take his plane and Crash it on a uncharted island somewhere so they can decide what politician the other eat first. (Can we shove beetroot Barnaby on as well?)

China would have been very angry with Australia if it had refused to sell it the coal. Could it even have invaded Australia? Perhaps certainly it would have seen it as a hostile act and exerted pressure.

See Japan invading northern China and Korea for resources before WW2. It looks a ridiculous idea now but who knows? I'm sure China had a plan for it.

China definitely has a plan for Australia that’s for sure.
I see there is a lovely advertisement for English and Irish nurses to come to Australia and fill our jobs for the nurses that have not complied to the mandate. Indian nurses too.
3000 teachers jobs in Sydney alone.
Not everyone wants to get vaccinated.
PM said it isn’t mandatory.
Bullshit it isn’t.

It will take a massive change in the political and social system. Those who think that can happen quickly are dreaming.

The people jumping up and down on this are really in the minority, traditional Labour/Green voters, so as long as the Libs/Nats feel they still have a majority they won’t give a flying fuck. I think it will rely on the young people coming through but it’s going to take quite a while for them to outnumber the oldies who are the Libs base so far as general voters goes.

@Dishhh

It isn't as simple as 'let's invest more into solar power'. South Australia has an extensive wind farm capable of fuelling the entire state; however, it is fragile and susceptible to storm damage. It does, apparently, supply about 60% of the state's power though. Other fossil fuel companies are primary employers - near where I live is the busiest coal port in the world, and mining is the biggest industry here. That said, on a micro level, our own port has changed dramatically in just 20 years - the huge 'dirty' industrial complexes have gone and the air is clean. I think this approach is occurring on a macro level, albeit at a slower pace and with more thought on a political level. (As this is always a quite political issue.)

Sorry, but fossil fuels providing employment in Australia is a myth. It is responsible for only 1% of our employment.

@politics4me

China would have been very angry with Australia if it had refused to sell it the coal. Could it even have invaded Australia? Perhaps certainly it would have seen it as a hostile act and exerted pressure. See Japan invading northern China and Korea for resources before WW2. It looks a ridiculous idea now but who knows? I'm sure China had a plan for it.

Um no, China has said it will move away from coal. Allegedly for climate reasons but possibly also because it’s pissed off with Australia already and wants to hurt Australia’s economy even more. China doesn’t want our coal. And China doesn’t invade for resources. It infiltrates using investment and building like it is doing in parts of Africa and will do in Afghanistan and has done by buying land in Australia.

@Sarahschild at the risk of derailing, what's your problem with vaccines?

I read an interesting book about climate change a while back. It was from a charity shop and already 10 years old but focused on Australia.
It talked about how coal dependent Australia was and due to climate change water shortages were a real issue meaning some cities would be uninhabitable within a generation.
The author was appalled at how little action was being taken and it seems nothing has changed.
Sorry I can't remember the title.

I think some areas in the outback are almost uninhabitable because of water shortages, but we do go through feast and famine there. We’re in a La Niña at the moment (tail end) so are fairly flush with water but we’ll then probably have 8-10 years of dry summers after this year and some areas will really struggle. I lived in Adelaide for a while and water restrictions were totally normal. In Sydney I’ve never had them for some reason, I assume it must just rain more here, or we have more reservoirs?

Kind of desperate to know what @StartupRepair and @echt posted that was so naughty!

It was a derail.

Thought you’d said something incendiary about China and Jinping’s minions had deleted you